Friday 18 December 2015

Let's have some French poetry for Christmas

Over a month has gone by since my last Blog entry and thoughts turn inevitably to Christmas.  Those of you who know me will also know I try to think ''outside the box'' where creative writing is concerned.  Or, as a seasoned Chief Petty Officer once said to me when we were shifting a large amount of boxes from a large space into a smaller one:  ''Think laterally''.

Whatever our religion (or not), we become swept up in festive activities whether intended (or not).  The following poem is one of a collection by Rainer Maria Rilke.  Rilke was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1875 and died in Switzerland in 1926.  He wrote in both French and German although the following is a translation of one of his French poems.

De Pere en Fils (From Father to Son)

Reject the complicated life,
Look at your hand near the bread on the table:
how clear those two things on the clear cloth are
from father to son and from son to father.

Love the Earth's celestial countryside
and it's joy, hidden by manifest pain,
the quiet window, the harsh door
from father to son and from son to father.

And those kneeling things always in place
and the dog who fidgets, yet outdoes them,
very gentle believer who hardly doubts
from father to son and from son to father.

(c) R M Rilke.


Wishing everyone a peaceful Christmas.  Enjoy the simplicity of silence.




Sunday 1 November 2015

The River Plym in Early November

I live close to the River Plym; an area of contrasts with the busy Embankment Road, railway line and yet calm, unbridled views over Saltram park.  Occasionally when time permits (and usually at weekends), I take a very early walk close to the river to watch the sun rise.  Now the night's are drawing in and the morning's have a tardy start of light, the moment to catch the sun coming up is later than I would like but on a morning such as we had today, it is beautiful.  The weather was exceptional - just like high summer or Midsummer's Day.  The hills looking up beyond Plympton were shaded in soft violets, mauves and apricots with a chiffon white mist rising in front of the boat house at Saltram Point.  A wide range of birds from Oyster-Catchers, to Plovers to Warblers swept and swung over the high tide which gently lapped the shore.  Rare species often gather here to the delight of Ornithologists.

At that point I was brought to mind of a typical November day.  Grey, wet, windy, cold and dank.  Yet today was none of these.  My late father (Bernard Snell, who was born in November 1922) was a sun worshipper by nature and hated the winter.  He could never bear the long dark cold days and often referred to November as 'Suicide Month'.  He felt trudging out to work in the dark and wet, returning home in the same conditions and spending much of his time jammed in the hull of a ship (he was a Ships' Welder), meant day light and sunshine were hugely important to him.  Additionally his awful experiences of being in Plymouth throughout the Blitz meant that darkness could mean death.

Below is an extract of Novembrists from the wonderful collection of poems by
Sean O'Brien called November.

Reactionary elements combining in the dark
To undermine the decent light of trade
With futile knowledge of the spirit's appetite
For somewhere in between this world
And its discarded shadows.  O Novembrists!
At the year's death walking to no purpose
But to walk among the rutted leaves
And dripping hawthorns, in behind
The sleeping yards and the flooded lawns
And air-raid shelters piled with mattresses and comics,
Now I see it is my parents that I walk beside, ..........

If my father were alive today, he would have smiled at the irony.

Ruth

Thursday 1 October 2015

Acrostic Sonnet for Whitleigh

Acrostic Sonnet for Whitleigh


Wend through these ancient Whitleigh trees
Hiding blooms of Cuckoo Flower,
Infused with misted eau de vie
Time flows by on seasons showers.
Lancaster Gardens; bridle path
Encapsulating ghosts of old,
Indentured men grind plane and lathe
Gladdened nights wrap darkened folds.
Hewing five-bar farm gate and post

Guarding green fields of Budshead Road,
Ribboning west towards the coast;
Echoing Whitleigh Hall's abode.
Elegies sing of hearth and home,
Now here we rest, no more to roam.

(c)  Ruth Muttlebury
2015

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Literary Festivals

Literary Festivals - there are lots of them around.  I've attended a few and generally, in terms of a popular adage, 'the oldest ones are the best'.  The new ones don't have that wonderfully worn patina about them which give grace to a cosy feeling of piles of books and fascinating writer's of all genres sharing their views.  That said, it needs a certain environment to make a festival work well and Kew Gardens is no exception. 

Details of Write On Kew are here:
http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/write-on-kew

And while we are talking of the right environment for a literary festival, Whitleigh Words Festival Finale will take place on 3 October 2015 to the north of Plymouth.  For more details:
https://whitleigharts.wordpress.com/hiya-whitleigh-newsletter-autumn-2014/whitleigh-words-festival/

As some of you know, I don't involve myself with Open Mic, Performance Poetry or anything else which means I could (and would) bore people witless with my work. Nor do I sit in on endless performances either.  I am happy to be a silent poet, as they say.  However, I look forward to popping over to Whitleigh for a short spell on the day to say hello to Sandy Wager who has worked tirelessly in bringing everything together for the local residents.

Whitleigh has many things which some of the suburbs in Plymouth are without.  Several airy and light church halls for various functions, a selection of shops, some gentle ancient woodlands and a great pub - The Albermarle Inn - which gives a warm welcome and has been a great help to Sandy in the festival.  While many parts of Plymouth are losing their community hubs, Whitleigh is developing its own very well indeed.  Good luck to Whitleigh - and Sandy - for more future successes.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Pseudonyms

Is a pseudonym - or several pseudonyms worthwhile?  In my view yes, it is.  The reasons are various but many writer's like to feel their work stands alone from the day job.  For those fortunate enough not to have to work, a pseudonym is often still worthwhile as it allows an escape hatch into their ideas. 

At a Writer's Convention in Bristol, sat amongst other writer's I was surprised at how many people wrote under fictitious names.  The lady sat on my left hand side was a well known writer of romantic novels.  In the course of conversation it turned out she was also a fully qualified accountant working from home and her husband was a GP.  Living in a rural village in Cambridgeshire (I'll give no more away here!) she didn't want to be the focus of local gossip or bothered by people asking endless questions about her next book or plot.  She wanted to get on with her main day job (Accountant), her domestic life (wife to a GP and mother to two teenagers) and - oh - of course - a Writer too!

Behind me another lady - in a most resplendent hat - was a highly successful historical novelist.  Again, her 'writing' name was also a pseudonym and she is lucky enough to have a holiday cottage in Devon where she goes to write.  Her real home is several counties away.

Lots of writer's and poets adopt another name to free them up from any expectations.  After all, Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr were one and the same person.  William Trevor is really William Trevor Cox.  Even Elena Ferrante is another author by another name but nobody knows who.  She (or he) has created a modern Italian mystery by hiding their real identity.

Am I Ruth Snell?  In some ways yes, although several of you will know me as someone else.

Saturday 8 August 2015

Creative Writing Workshop on Russian Literature and it's importance to Western Literary Culture

Last year I ran a creative writing workshop near Plymouth where we focused on the styles of the Russian writers.  Each literary gem has something to teach us.

The first image of Russia is one of bleak Siberian winters, heavy fur coats, Communism and the Kremlin.  Scratch behind this imagery and you will find something far different.  All of this is reflected in their highly successful literature which stands as a classic on the world stage.

What is their technique?  Don't forget many writers who put their feelings onto paper were locked up and/or disappeared under the Communist regime.  Some will say things haven't changed.  However, as artists we are not here to judge that per se.  We just want to look and enjoy.

If you want to get started on a good Russian short story then look no further than Anton Chekhov.  His short story The Cherry Orchard stands alone as a wonderful work of art which grasps the cusp of change in 'old' Russia when we see that a family hanging onto old, traditional standards are 'in the way' of financial property development.  It shows the first type of capitalism entering Russia when the poor peasant is no longer poor.  Servant turned master and all the rest of it.  At the end of the story, only the truly traditional servant is left caring about the family, the house and the orchards.  Money talks.

At school, a truly wonderful teacher of Literature, Mrs Barbara Allen, took us through some of the work of Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol.  Gogol carries something into his work which makes us all look at ourselves from time to time.  He puts his finger on the pulse of human frailties.  If you haven't read any of his work then it's worth a try.

Russian Flash Fiction?  How about reading some of the work of Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko to give you a stunning overview.  Quick reads such as The Bathhouse, The Galosh and The Hat are food for thought.

In Russia it was important to be successful in both the short story form and poetry before even contemplating the novel.  It was a true marathon.  So, if you haven't yet looked at Russian literature then it is worth a go and is something more accessible than you think.

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Creative Writing Workshop at Whitleigh Words Festival

A sincere thank you to everyone who came along to the Japanese Poetry Workshop on Saturday 4 July 2015 as part of the Whitleigh Words Festival.  A group of people who barely knew each other were blended and revitalized by studying some of the methods of Haiku, Tanka, Haibun and Renga.  This was just a brief introduction into the mysteries of Japanese poetry but one which was enjoyed by all.  We also took time to explore and discuss the history of Japanese literature and the ancient culture which supports it.  It is a complex subject and not one which can be fully analysed in a couple of hours but I trust the handouts helped.

Sincere thanks to Sandy Wager, Organizer of the Whitleigh Words Festival for her succinct administration of this event and other activities going on in Whitleigh.   Don't forget folks that Whitleigh has been a thriving suburb of Plymouth for 65 years.  In fact the key reason for the Festival was to celebrate that era of time from when the first foundation stones were laid.  Prior to that, Whitleigh was sprawling farmland consisting of many green acres and traditional farm buildings.

Sadly Whitleigh Hall was knocked down just after the war which is a pity because like most manor houses in Plymouth, it would have enhanced the currently desired City of Culture status very well. But in those immediate post-war years, like all the Plymouth based manors, it was seen as a sign of capitalist living and not emblematic of socialism, so down it came.  And now the Council want to apply for City of Culture status ... when the backbone of its history was wilfully destroyed .... by the .... Council ... while they keep the grotty Civic Centre Council House (circa late 1950s) standing as a listed building.  You couldn't make it up if you tried.

P.S.  I'm glad they don't work for me.





Thursday 25 June 2015

Let's Start Looking At Haiku ...

Let us start looking at Haiku.  That small but philosophical piece of poetry in the 5-7-5 syllable count which gives a snapshot of a moment in time. Here are some I did earlier (as they say) ...

Summer morning dawns
as gulls sweep glittering seas
Plymouth awakens

Vast skies unfold blue
above a river's strong flow
which stills each poet

Each snowdrop wavers
in woodland green glades of dew
February gems

A silent world waits
over a golden seabed
yet above there's storms

(c)  Ruth Snell
2015

Look forward to meeting the fellow creative writers at Whitleigh very soon.

Ruth

Thursday 21 May 2015

Looking at Japanese Poetry

In due course I will be running a workshop as part of the Whitleigh Words Festival 2015 on Japanese Poetry.  Below is a poem which caught my eye several years ago and was written by Tamura Ryuichi, Japan's most popular modern poet:

A Man Who Writes a Poem

A man who writes a poem
floats in space
No one can tell
where the buoyancy comes from

A man who writes a poem
is like a pianist
whose hands are already moving
before the key's been chosen consciously
His hands precede him
His hands caught by the sound cannot escape
which is why they struggle

The sound guides the hands
and the hands
trying to escape the sound
drag him along
somewhere

    Where?

To see the shape
of a man writing a poem

Jump off the highest place in the world
upside down

And then your falling eye the wrong way up
might catch a glimpse
of a man writing a poem
floating in space
inside the gloom

----------------------------------------

We will look at this and more traditional styles of Japanese Poetry.  Workshop details available through the Whitleigh Words Festival website.



Monday 11 May 2015

Plymouth Poetry - Past and Present

Poetry about Plymouth - Past and Present.  Well, I wonder who started the ball rolling on that one then?  It always makes me smile when someone 'borrows' an idea you have had (and published) by then masquerading it as their own.  When I published Inspeximus:  Poetry from the Manors of The Roborough Hundred I realised I was writing for a very niche market.  Not everyone likes history.  Few understand specific local history and even fewer people these days read poetry.  So, when I see a certain 'historic' institution in Plymouth deciding to have an open evening for people with 'Plymouth Poetry Past and Present' as a grand theme, I fall off my chair in laughter.

Remember.  You heard it here first.

Remember also that nepotism rules in some cities which have refused to unlock their minds but want all the benefits when things go right.  Truth is stranger than fiction in Plymouth.

Friday 24 April 2015

Whitleigh Words Festival

I am pleased to have been invited along to the Whitleigh Words Festival 2015.

My memories of the Whitleigh area are good ones.  My father lived there for a few years after the Second World War in what was then a 'new estate' and my Grandmother lived in Lancaster Gardens from around 1973 to 1984.  Both of them had vivid memories of Whitleigh when it was rambling green countryside and ancient woodland before the war changed so much in the Plymouth area.

I will be running a Poetry Walk and a Japanese Poetry Workshop as part of the Festival events.  Dates and details can be found on the Whitleigh Word Festival website.  Bookings for all workshops with myself and other writers need to be arranged through the contacts shown.

In particular, we must all thank Sandy Wager for working so tirelessly to make the festival happen.  She has lined up a galaxy of different activities which all come down to words - and their importance in our lives.  Her achievements have been huge in grasping such a wide undertaking and putting the special community of Whitleigh people into a higher profile.  Thank you Sandy.

Keep on writing!

Ruth

Monday 16 March 2015

The 'i's' and the eyes have it for Poetry and Pictures ...

Poetry and Pictures - how do we 'see' them and what is the link?

Imagery:  The meaning of Imagery evolves from the Latin 'of a likeness' and covers the use of language to represent a sensory or extra-sensory experience. Through pushing out our descriptions of what we see, the use of simile and metaphor is very effective.  Look at this extract from Lazarus and the Sea by Peter Redgrove ....

'They spread like whispered conversations
Through all the numbed rippling tissues radiated
Like a tree for thirty years from the still centre
Of my salt ovum. ...'

Illusion:  What writers create to make the reader feel they are sharing in the experience of hearing, feeling, tasting, seeing and smelling.  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a good example ...

'My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.

The important element of illusion is for the writer and the reader to appreciate together the pace and element of content in the work.

Ideograph:  This is rarer in English but means 'a picture of the thing itself' - or is more applicable to a written symbol.  The Chinese and Japanese languages are ideographic.  The symbol is generally drawn from a picture of representation.

So there are above, three literary words for you which all begin with 'i' and work on how poetry and wider literature is perceived through how we see through what is written.



Wednesday 4 February 2015

English: The Best Language in the World ...

English:  The Best Language in the World ... also classed as one of the most difficult, ambiguous and tricky.  Perhaps.  One of the joys of the English Language is the variety of the vocabulary sources.  Flick through a Dictionary and what do you find?

I = from the Old Saxon of 'ik', Old Norse of 'ek', Indo-European of 'ego' (check out the Latin too).
Will = from the Old English of 'willan' or 'wyllan', Old Norse of 'uilja' and Germanic 'wel'.
Telephone = from two words: tele and phone.  So we look at 'tele' from the Greek of 'far off' and 'phone' from the Greek of 'phone' meaning 'voice' or 'sound'.
You = from the Old English 'eow' and the Old Saxon 'ju' and the West Germanic 'iwwiz'.
This = from the Old English 'thes', Old Saxon 'these' and the Old Higher German 'dese'.
Evening = from the Old English 'aefnung'.

Now say the words in bold aloud replacing them with one of the original archaic words.  You will 'hear' some similarities to the modern sentence but it will also demonstrate how much English has evolved over the years.

We haven't even touched on some of the French or Celtic words which filter into our everyday lives.

Are we doing enough to protect the English Language?  In France, the Academie Francais fiercely defends the purification of the French language.  This is the key reason French is so pure and fine when translated; plus it is a remarkably polite language to use.  It is literally all about entente cordiale.

One of the pleasures of writing poetry is to drill down and quarry out each word.  I don't write for performance poetry (I'm not an actress and have no intentions of being one) as to me the word itself has to stand up out of the page and really mean what it says.  That can become more difficult in poetry that rhymes, or like a rendition of 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas, the actual sound of each word adds a remarkable weight to the picture formed in the reader or listeners mind.

Poetry and pictures.  More to follow.

Ruth

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Magna Carta and Inspeximus .... the Link

We now, in 2015, stand on the threshold of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.  A document signed by King John in 1215 after pressure from the Barons - not to mention the church - speaks of freedom and liberty.  King John was a very unpopular King and was eventually pushed into a tight corner at Runnymede where he was encouraged to sign the document we recognize today.  As a legal document, the Magna Carta has never been revoked and English law is founded on its beliefs.

The word 'Inspeximus' means literally in Latin = 'We have inspected' and comes from the right of land owners to show that what they have is legally theirs.  At Domesday, a record was taken of all land holdings (manors) and what they consisted of; from people to livestock and woodland.  In later years, a re-visitation took place and in 1381 when King Richard II was on the throne, an Inspeximus grant of Walkhampton manor took place to certify ownership.  Walkhampton was a Royal Manor and the premier lead manor of The Roborough Hundred.  Plymouth barely existed and was just a small fishing village called Sutton. 

Time has moved on and much has changed.  However, to hold the 1381 Inspeximus grant in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office was quite a special feeling.  So much can be learnt from our surroundings.  We just need to know how to look.